Coil supporting apparatus



W. MORGAN INVENTOR WELD MOR GA N BY ATTORNEY April 3, 1945.

mw M H Patented Apr. 3, 1945 COIL SUPPORTING APPARATUS Weld Morgan, Worcester, Mass., assignor to Morgan Construction Company, Worcester, Mass., a corporation of Massachusetts Application December 10, 1941, Serial No. 422,333

9 Claims. (Cl. 242-129) This invention relates to coil supporting apparatus, and more particularly to apparatus arranged to support annular bundles of metal rod or wire while it is being paid off to some other .machine.

In the manufacture of wire it is the practice to pass metal billets through a rolling mill and form long rods of comparatively small diameter, and to coil these rods into annular bundles. Wire is produced by drawing the rods through dies, and during this process the rod bundles must be suitably supported adjacent the wire-drawing machine so that the rod will uncoil properly without snarling. By welding together the ends of the rods in successive bundles it is possible to maintain the wire-drawing machine in continuous operation until the dies become so worn as to require replacement. It has been proposed to support the bundles upon armswhich project in generally radial directions from a turn-table. this latter being mounted for free rotation about a vertical axis. However, it is necessary for the operator to turn this apparatus by hand as soon as one bundle has become exhausted, and thereby bring the next bundle into the correct position for unwinding. This requires considerable watchfulness on the part of the operator, who may have charge of several machines, and there may be occasions when two machines will exhaust their bundles nearly simultaneously. If the operator is not present to rotate the coil support at the proper time, snarling and breakage of the rod may occur. Similar problems may be involved whenever any elongated metal product is to be paid off from a coil for further processing. As an example, bundles of wire may be used to supply stock to a machine for manufacturing springs or other wire products.

It is accordingly one object of the invention to provide an improved apparatus to support annular bundles of rod or wire in such a manner that as soon as one bundle has become exhausted the next bundle will be moved automatically into the proper pay-01f position.

It is a further object of the invention to provide an improved turn-table for the support of a plurality of annular bundles of rod or wire joined by welding, ""the' construction being such that as soon as one bundle has become exhausted the apparatus will be rotated automatically to bring the next bundle into the position previously occupied by the exhausted bundle.

With these and other objects in view, as will be apparent to those skilled in the art, the invention resides in the combination of parts set forth in the specification and covered by the claims appended hereto.

Referring to the drawing illustrating one embodiment of the invention and in which like reference numerals indicate like parts,

Fig. 1 is a perspective view of a coil supporting apparatus; and

Fig. 2 is a fragmentary vertical section through the apparatus.

The embodiment illustrated comprises a base 10 adapted to be secured to a floor or other foundation. From this base a column I I extends vertically upward, this column preferably being hollow in order to afford adequate strength without excess weight. The column H is surrounded by a hollow vertical member or upright l2 which is closed at its upper end by a plate l4, this plate resting on a ball l5 forming a pivot bearing on the upper end of the column I I. Thus the memher I! is supported for free rotation about a vertical axis.

In order to support the bundles of rods to be paid ofl in a desired manner, two arms I! extend in generally radial directions from opposite sides of the member l2. These arms are located appreciably below the upper end ofthe member l2 and they preferably slope upwardly and outwardly at a slight angle. Beneath each of the arms l'l there is provided a lower arm I8, these lower arms extending radially from the membr l2 adjacent the lower end thereof. Two annular rod bundles A and B may be suspended from the upper arms II, with the bottom portions of the bundles passing beneath the lower arms l8. The usual clicker bars is are pivotally connected to the upper portion of the member l2, above the upper arms l1, these clicker bars resting upon the rod bundles to aid in the orderly release of the convolutions therefrom.

It will now be apparent that with bundle A positioned as shown in Fig. 1, rod may be withdrawn therefrom by a wire-drawing machine or other apparatus (not shown). While this is taking place, the tail end of the rod in bundle A may be welded to the front end of the rod in bundle B to provide a strand S which connects the two bundles. If, upon exhaustion of the rod from bundle A, the member I2 is rotated degrees to bring bundle B into the position formerly occupied by bundle 'A, the paying off of the rod may continue without interruption.

The present invention provides means whereby this rotation of the turn-table will be brought aboutautomatically without the necessity of manual assistance. For this purpose I provide cal axis, two arms projecting from the turntable in diametrically opposed and generally radial directions so. that an annular bundle of rod or wire may be suspended from each arm, the bundles being arranged to be uncoiled one at a time and being joined by a connecting strand,

turn-table mounted for rotation about a vertical l1 axis, two arms projecting from the turn-table in diametrically opposed and generally radial directions so that an annular bundle of rod or wire may be suspended from each arm, the bundles being arranged to be uncoiled one at a time and being joined by a connecting strand, two frames mounted on the turn-table in diametrically op posed positions intermediate the arms and extending in generally radial directions, and an outwardly open hook on each frame, one or the other of the hooks being in position to support the said connecting strand and thereby ensure automatic rotation of the turn-table upon exhaustion of each bundle.

WELD MORGAN. 

